The Falcon softball team took down the Fort Wayne Mastodons 1-0 on Wednesday afternoon, as the team earned their first shutout at home this season.
“Defense definitely won this game today,” Falcons head coach Sarah Willis said. “Any time you come out on top of a 1-0 ball game, your defense has to be good and the pitchers definitely have to do their job. That’s what happened today, and the pitchers even contributed to the defense today.”
The Falcons started out the game with an RBI single from senior shortstop Aspen Searle in the first inning, capitalizing on a triple by sophomore outfielder Kendyl Wheeler, however the game would go scoreless throughout the remaining six innings. Both teams went down in order in the second inning and while the Falcons had a scoring chance in the third inning with runners at second and third, they were unable to get another run across. For the remainder of the game, neither team would advance a runner past second base, however Fort Wayne threatened late in the game as they were able to get runners on first and second in the seventh, but the Falcons would get a groundout to end the threat and take the 1-0 victory.
“It was great to see the jump from our offense early, especially by Wheeler and by Aspen to get Wheeler home,” Willis said. “Our offense definitely did a good job of challenging their defense; they just made some good plays on us today. But, we need to find a way to produce and increase that one-run lead.”
Both pitchers pitched well to earn the shutout for the Falcons, as junior starting pitcher Meredith Miller only allowed one hit over four innings, going along with a pair of strikeouts and no walks to get the win. Fellow junior pitcher Brooke Parker came into the game in the fifth to earn a three inning save, giving up just two hits and two walks. Wheeler, Searle, junior outfielder Alex Sorgi and junior outfielder Kali Holcomb each recorded a hit for the Falcons as Searle and Holcomb also drew a walk each.
The team will next play on Friday and Saturday afternoon at home against the Western Michigan Broncos.
“We will look to work on our situational hitting going into the weekend series with Western Michigan,” Willis said. “This was a good game to help prepare us for this weekend.”
